Two Is the Beginning of the End
by Brown Eyes Parker
Summary: She is elfin and golden stardust and she doesn't fit into your plans at all. You consider yourself the next Peter Pan, you are never going to grow up, and you are never going to get (gross) adult responsibilities. You are never going to actually get married or have kids either, you'll be the first forever little boy without actually going to Neverland. For Joshaya Week. Rated K .


**Two Is the Beginning of the End**

 **A Josh & Maya Story**

 **By Brown Eyes Parker**

 **Author's Note:**

 **This is for "Joshaya" Appreciation Week over on tumblr. Day 1 is supposed to be how Josh and Maya met or them as kids. So, I opted to go for them as kids (with a little peek at the future thrown in). It's a little AU and a tiny bit OOC. In fact, I don't even know what I was thinking when I wrote this but I hope you will enjoy it. All of the quotes are from books I read growing up.**

 **Rated: K+**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

 **.**

| **Two is the beginning of the end** |

 _Peter Pan_

 **.**

Her name is Maya Hart.

She is elfin and golden stardust and she doesn't fit into your plans _at all_. You consider yourself the next Peter Pan, you are never going to grow up, and you are never going to get (gross) adult responsibilities. You are _never_ going to actually get married or have kids either, you'll be the first forever little boy without actually going to Neverland.

Except she's looking at you over her cherry and lime popsicle with glittery blue eyes and you think maybe she can be the Wendy Darling to your Peter Pan. As soon as the thought crosses your mind, you know you are in trouble. You've never actually met a girl you held in the same esteem as _Wendy_ or your mother or Topanga or even your niece.

And all she's done is said _hello_ to you and looked at you a whole bunch of times and you're ready to reevaluate every choice you've ever made up to this point. _Forget_ that she's five and you're almost eight and that you're way too young to think about growing up or forever.

If your father knew what you were thinking right now, he would tell you to enjoy your childhood because it won't last forever. He'll mean well, you know, but you don't want his voice in your head right now because she is lovely and you know she likes you back because before she leaves, she tells you that she does and insists you're going to marry her one day.

It is the beginning of something new. You think, maybe, this is the start of the secret your big brother told you before he moved to New York for the first time. You are almost certain that this is the beginning of your happily ever after.

 **.**

|| **I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen** ||

 _Winnie the Pooh_

 **.**

It's been six months since you first met. It's been six months since she told you what was what. You are in New York for Christmas and her vocabulary has expanded or maybe the shyness she was experience the first week was only temporary, because she is talking a mile a minute on your taxi ride to go see the Nutcracker.

You vaguely wonder if she will choke on the candy cane that she has been licking since you and your family picked her up at her apartment because she doesn't take it out of her mouth even when she's speaking, her words are muffled but somehow you can still understand exactly what she's saying. You are sitting close enough to smell the mint on her breath, the hint of a more sophisticated perfume that you are sure she only got to wear because it's special occasion. You can see the way the late afternoon sunshine reflects off her hair and the skirt of her dress causing a splash of green sparkles off of the taxi's ceiling and windows.

When you get to the theater and take your seats, you steal one next to her even though your niece protests that she _always_ sits next to her when they go out places. She offers you a lick of the last sharp sliver of her candy cane and you accept even though your mother has been preaching to you about colds, flus and stomach bugs since school started. You won't tell her or your friends (who think you can catch cooties from girls).

You like her even more because she kind of makes you do things you wouldn't ever do otherwise. Yes, it's just sharing _candy_ but you haven't ever shared anybody else's spit with them, not even your softball buddies and they _always_ spit on their hands before they high fived each other.

It is the first time you share her spit and it won't be the last. You will share many ice cream cones with her, many lollipops and candy canes and the bottom halves of her pre-bitten Sour Patch Kids because she _cannot_ stand the thought of eating their feet.

And one day. . . way, way, _way_ in the future, when you are both almost grownups and you've already kissed a lot, you are going to share some more spit with her because of a certain form of kissing you're both not used to yet.

Maya Hart will never stop being an adventure.

 **.**

 **Everything that's worth having is some trouble…**

 _Anne of Avonlea_

 **.**

It is spring break, you are eight and she is six now. You have heard your brother and sister-in-law say Maya's name and then they spell D-I-V-O-R-C-E. You are not stupid, you know how to spell and sound out words. You know that Maya's parents got a divorce and that is why she is on the Disney Cruise with you and your family. Her dad got a new family and her mom needed time to regroup. She traded Maya in for a week of getting her life back together.

You sit beside her because she's really not into all the activity going around her. You want to be in on the action, you want to have dinner with Belle and boogie with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck and Goofy. But you want her to be okay even more and right now, she is _not_ the same girl who shared her candy cane with you at the ballet in December.

She knows what is going on but she doesn't talk about it. You do not prod or press her to talk about it even though you want to. You want to tell her everything will be okay but you cannot make promises you know you can't possibly keep. You want to tell her to stop thinking about her father and enjoy herself and you almost do but you catch yourself just in time and order room service instead.

You stay in the cabin most of the trip and watch "Sweet Life On Deck" and "Phil of The Future" and some of the real kid shows like "Handy Manny" and "PB & J Otter".

Your family tells you how sweet you are for staying with her all the time even though you don't really have to, you know. When you get home, you are laden with all sorts of stuff for the all the trouble you went through for Maya while you were on vacation.

Nobody's the wiser for it, they don't know you would sit with her in _the South Pole_ or follow her to the ends of the earth just to make sure she is okay. Just to get the chance to see a rare smile that belongs to you or to smell her bubblegum scented body wash.

They say you went to a lot of trouble for her.

But she is no trouble at all, really.

And somewhere in your young boy mind, you know _anything_ worth having is some trouble.

This is why you do it and you continue to do it for the rest of your life.

 **.**

 **|| I love you. Okay? Want it louder? I love you. Spell it out, should I? I ell-oh-vee-ee why-oh-you. Want it backward? You love I. ||**

 _the Princess Bride_

 **.**

You are ten when you tell her that you love her for the first time. You are in a park in Philly. She turns kind of pink and pretends that she didn't hear you. You say it a little louder and she walks away from you without looking back. You follow her around and ask her what it'll take to make her believe you.

She shakes her head. "Nothing," she says. "Don't love me, love never really lasts."

Such a big, cynical statement for a little girl. You are more than a little taken aback because _you_ have proof that _true_ and _real_ love lasts and you are pretty sure that _true_ and _real_ are exactly what you feel for Maya Hart.

You want to spend the rest of your life proving her wrong.

There will be a small period of time where you'll tell her that you are too old for her but the general feeling won't ever go away and you will hurt each time you see her crestfallen face because it is like you are adding proof to _her_ theory that love really never does last.

Eventually, you'll say _I love you_ again in all different kinds of forms and languages, including French and German and Spanish and even though she is a little reluctant at first, she'll say it back and after a while, you will prove her wrong.

 **_The End_**

 **.**

 **Author's Note II:**

 **Well, I'll be back tomorrow with another story. In the meantime, I hope you will leave some feedback on** _ **this**_ **. I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you! This is kind of a new concept for me too, so tell me what you thought because I might use this format again if you liked it.**

 **Until Next Time!**

 **Love,**

 **Holly, 11/9/2015_**


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